As part of my Combined English A-level, I have been reading Larkin’s The Whitsun Weddings, a collection of poems categorised under the exam board’s broad theme of Society and the Individual. Within the collection, there are a mixture of dull, cynical, ambiguous, frankly xenophobic personas, to name but a few attributes.
Linking many of these flawed personas (how much they resemble Larkin himself I know not) is an absence of certainty through a denial of responsibility, often found towards the conclusion of poem. In Mr Bleaney, the persona constantly shifts the focus away from their failure of a life by examining Mr Bleaney, the final words ‘I don’t know’ revealing the uncertainty and confusion of views. Larkin’s persona doesn’t want the responsibility of reflecting on their unsatisfactory life stuck in ‘one hired box.’ The same is the case for Wild Oats, potentially an uncovering of Larkin’s youthful promiscuity. Following the failure of a relationship to materialise, the persona assumes ‘snaps’ of his ex-partner were ‘unlucky charms, perhaps.’ Again, the reasoning behind the persona’s failure is not their flawed characteristics but inanimate objects, the persona taking no responsibility. From this literary criticism comes a conclusion more relevant than ever to politics today. I wish to put forward the thesis that what unites all the current political chaos is an absence of responsibility. Take the government: they are supposedly in charge. At every stage of the Brexit negotiations, they have blamed the EU for the deadlock and intransigence that prevented talks from moving forward. Even now a deal has been agreed, the message European negotiators won’t budge any further – especially over the backstop – is how they try to justify the all roundly criticised deal. Of course, the EU have hardly been perfect themselves, the latest squabbling over fishing and Gibraltar unlikely to calm matters. On non-Brexit issues the chaos of Universal Credit is frequently blamed the failure of Universal Credit on Labour’s legacy system. There is no acceptance of the responsibility of their failure. The Brexiteers have been woeful at accepting the mandate the referendum of June 2016 gave them. Despite quoting the ‘17.4 million’ at every opportunity, they have failed to stand up for them and enact the verdict ‘of the people.’ Weeks after the referendum took place, Nigel Farage was gone. After the Chequers meeting, David Davis and Boris Johnson had enough, the latter instead moaning from the Telegraph instead of working to achieve a deal. Last week, Dominic Raab and Esther McVey fell on their swords, failing to take responsibility for the chaos. Despite remaining in the Cabinet, by declining the role of Brexit secretary, Michael Gove didn’t want the responsibility for trying to domestically get the deal through parliament. If the Brexiteers want anyone to blame, they must look at themselves. The opposition parties are no better. On Brexit, Labour has failed to take a clear stance, deciding ambiguity and confusion is the best way forward. I could still not tell you what their Brexit plan was. Despite adopting the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, the small but significant number of anti-Semites have failed to be stamped out of the party, the root causes for far-left anti-Semitism not properly tackled. The party talk of another election at any costs, without exploring why their poll lead is not larger (indeed, their recent spike appears to be more because of Tory divisions than Labour success). The SNP continually fail to accept the 2014 rejection of Scottish independence, prioritising another vote at any costs – even when it leads to a dereliction of duty in education policy. I suppose I should lump Liberal Democrats and remainers for they are one and the same. After the vote to leave, many wished to do whatever they could to overturn the result. They have every right to do so, the ability to hold any view the bedrock of a free society. However, many have failed to properly listen to the concerns of Brexiteers, multiple rallies held in London, a remain heartland, hardly appealing to those on the dockyard hundreds of miles away. Currently, the #PeoplesVote campaign represents the height of social elitism, only those who voted remain in the first place currently campaigning. They have failed to take responsibility for what lost them the first vote. It is this abject failure across all groups to take responsibility that leads to the immense polarisation and dangerous discourse in our society today, different groups blaming one another. Why do groups not want to take responsibility? Often, it is preferential to remain ambiguous, unclear about what really happened if something has gone wrong. If course, if something pleasing and beneficial has been announced, everyone jumps onto it as a result of their performance and leadership. If not, fiddled statistics, confusion and blaming of other groups prevails. At least those who take responsibility admit they have done something. So concerned are parties about success at the ballot box that they assume their failure, consigned to opposition for decades to come, is inevitable if they are to admit to wrongdoing. This is not sustainable in any form of political discourse. If politics is to triumph, division and disagreements, an inevitable, brilliant part of democracy, should be based on facts and openness. People deserve to know who was responsible for something going right or wrong in order to make an informed decision at the ballot box. When I am eligible to vote, from August next year, I will be looking for the party not of spin, showmanship or false promises that can never be met, but a party of honesty, that doesn’t take the British public for fools and takes credit for its failures, as well as its achievements.
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